Keelham’s prime time buying spree at CCM Skipton

Keelham Farm Shop in Thornton, Bradford, embarked on another buying spree of the top
performers at the July prime shows at CCM Skipton.
Keelham partner and butcher James Robertshaw attended in person to snap up the champion and
reserve champion beef cattle, before repeating the feat in the Spring lamb show classes.
He paid £1,466, or 251.5p/kg, top price per head and by-weight, for the prime cattle title winner, a
home-bred 575kg British Blue-cross heifer from Trawden’s Jim Baines, and £1,294, or 239.5p/kg,
for the reserve champion, another British Blue-cross heifer from local vendors John and Alison
Spensley, of Manor Farm, Thorlby, champions at the June prime show.
Keelham also made a third acquisition, a Limousin-cross heifer again from the Spensleys at £1,357,
or 244.5p/kg.
Mr Robertshaw then transferred his interest to the prime lamb sale ring when successfully bidding
for the champion and reserve champion pens of five Beltex-cross lambs, both from the same North
Yorkshire vendor, Neil Tattersall, of P&N Tattersall at Town End Farm, Ellerton, midway between
Howden and Pocklington.
The 37kg victors sold for £139, or 375.7p/kg, again the leading per head and by-weight prices, and
the 38kg runners-up for £126 apiece, or 331.6p/kg. Keelham made it a clean sweep of purchases in
the Continental-cross show class when acquiring the third prize 41kg Beltex-cross pen from Robert
Towers, of Farleton, Lancaster, for £103 per head.
Multi-award winning Keelham Farm Shop, the reigning Farm Shop of the Year in the annual
Butcher's Shop of the Year Awards and a former Countryside Alliance Awards Yorkshire Food
Champion, continues to cement its trading relationship with CCM Skipton.
It has bought numerous locally reared prime beef and lamb champions and prize winners over the
years at the mart and is now looking forward to opening its second farm shop in Gargrave Road,
Skipton, adjoining the auction mart site. Development work is due to start later this year.
Mr Robertshaw said: “We have a long-held policy of buying prime cattle and sheep from local
farmers in support of our regional agricultural communities. It’s all about nurturing and developing
field-to-plate partnerships.
“I am now planning to attend weekly sales at Skipton on a regular basis to secure more locally
produced primestock, currently for sale in our Thornton shop and then additionally through our new
flagship store in Skipton when it opens in summer next year.”
Steeton’s Mark Evans was responsible for the first and second prizewinners in the Suffolk-cross
show class. His 47kg victors sold for £107.50 each and the 43kg runners-up for £99 per head, both
joining Halifax meat wholesalers J&E Medcalf.
The first prize 37kg Mule wether pen from Ken and Lynne Throup, of Silsden Moor, sold at £74 per
head, top price in class, to Andrew Atkinson, of Felliscliffe, who also added the second prize 36kg
pen from Bradley’s Alec and Nathan Wade at £72 each.
Back with the prime cattle, a standalone show for cull cows saw both the championship and reserve
championship awarded to beef-bred Welsh Black entries from Richard Paul, of Arncliffe. The victor
performed best on price when selling for £1,024, or 149.5p/kg. David Fort, of Malsis, was
responsible for the first prize dairy-bred entry, a Friesian sold for £1,131.
The prime lamb show, judged by Hartwith’s Nick Dalby, was the first in a series of monthly
sponsorships by agricultural supplies group Wynnstay, which has an on-site presence at Skipton
Auction Mart, with the prime cattle show classes judged by Carleton’s Ross Greenwood and again
sponsored by Philip Bolland Trailer Training.